


Less Like My Father (More Like My Dad)

by athena_crikey



Series: Superglue [4]
Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: A/B/O, AU, Fluff, Love, M/M, Mpreg, Sequel, Weddings, child birth, hormones make us all crazy, progeny, teeth-rotting sap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-08-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26066929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athena_crikey/pseuds/athena_crikey
Summary: Gon's second pregnancy is full of friendship and love, his pup eagerly anticipated.
Relationships: Gon Freecs & Killua Zoldyck, Gon Freecs/Hisoka
Series: Superglue [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1836991
Comments: 16
Kudos: 208





	Less Like My Father (More Like My Dad)

Gon waits for his first visit to the doctor, for the confirmation that this pregnancy is viable, before telling anyone other than Hisoka – even Sotto. He’s grown up from the days when he shared unhesitatingly, knows now that many early pregnancies don’t make it to the three-month mark. The doctor is a new one hand-picked by Leorio, a middle-aged male beta with a pleasant manner who calls Gon by his first name and tells him he’ll need close monitoring as he’s at a high risk of eclampsia. This time, there won’t be an opportunity for another near miss. 

Hisoka seems more relaxed at the visit to the obstetrician, accepting that Gon will be under a higher level of care than before, accepting the doctor. Gon regrets now that he chose the doctor he did the first time around; he should have known Hisoka would never welcome another alpha caring for him so intimately. But then again, their bond had been so new then, and Gon had been young and ignorant of the depth of Hisoka’s possessiveness. 

It’s not so much now that that possessiveness has waned as that they’ve grown more comfortable around each other, each fitting into the other’s expectations and routines like dancers moving in step. Gon knows how to keep from provoking Hisoka, and Hisoka trusts him to protect himself and his unborn pup. 

It’s the real dog-days of summer, the sun beating down hot from above and the grass slowly burning under its glare as it thirsts for rain. Gon takes Sotto to the water park, the firm muscles of his abdomen not yet showing any sign of the new life beating in his womb. They ride the waterslides together and run through the sprinklers, the park alive with children; it makes Gon grin. 

That evening together with Hisoka the three of them go to the summer carnival. They eat barbequed corn on the cob and candy apples and popcorn while they watch the shows and play for prizes, this year Sotto old enough to compete against his father. He wins a pair of cheap sunglasses while Hisoka wins a large stuffed bear which he presents to Gon.

“Daddy doesn’t need a stuffed animal,” says Sotto, glasses propped up proudly above his spiky hair. He’s gotten used to keeping it short and styling it; Gon thinks it makes him look like a kitten whose fur has been licked the wrong way by its mother but refrains from saying so. 

“Oh? Are you saying you do?” asks Hisoka, amused.

Sotto shakes his head, glancing at the bear. It’s brown with a red heart on its chest and a matching ribbon around its neck, its fur plush. “I’m too old for toys like that.”

“Hm. In that case, perhaps someone else could have it,” says Hisoka. Gon looks at him sharply. They haven’t discussed telling Sotto; Gon has assumed he’ll do it. But now he wonders if Hisoka plans to beat him to the punch. 

The overhead speakers announce that there are going to be fireworks over the lake, and that visitors can watch from the wide grassy knoll overlooking it. They hike up it and take a seat near the top, Gon and Hisoka together with Sotto between them. Night has fallen, the evening still warm and muggy. A little more moisture in the air and it would be right for lightning. But tonight will be clear, Gon knows. Perfect for fireworks. 

“Tell me, pup,” murmurs Hisoka, his eyes curved with mischief. “What would you say to a sibling?”

Sotto looks up at him. “You mean a brother or a sister?”

“Indeed.”

Sotto looks from him to Gon. “A little brother would be fun. I could teach him how to run and wrestle and hide,” he says.

“They would be a lot of work,” points out Hisoka; Gon bites his tongue to keep from glaring at him.

“I guess so. Most of the kids at school have brothers and sisters. They complain about them a lot. But…”

Hisoka’s lips curve upwards. “But?” he drawls.

“But they always have someone to play with. And the little kids are cute. And I’d be an awesome big brother.”

“You will be,” agrees Gon. “I don’t think Hisoka meant this bear for you,” he says, holding it in his lap. “It’s for your little brother or sister.”

Sotto’s eyes widen. “Daddy?”

“You’re going to be a big brother, Sotto. In a few months.” He reaches out and wraps his arms around his son, his first-born, and pulls him close. Sotto snuggles in against him. “Are you okay with that?” he asks, softly.

Sotto nods, face buried in the teddy bear’s fur. Gon glances to his mate, who’s sitting looking out at the water. There’s a satisfied smile on his face. 

Over the lake, the fireworks start.

  
***

Hisoka’s always had a strong libido, but Gon had forgotten how aroused the sight of his pregnant body makes the alpha, how it seems to compel him to lick his scent into Gon’s skin and plunder every inch of him. As his stomach swells Hisoka’s there to stroke it, to sit him in his lap and take him while cupping the growing roundness.

The first time, with Sotto, it had felt frantic, had felt like mindless sex drive – lust consuming his mate, and himself in turn.

This time, Hisoka nosing at his faded mark, at the gentle curve of his breasts, at the rise of his womb, it feels like something else. Feels like love.

  
***

Sotto’s there the first time the baby kicks, Gon overseeing his weight training in their personal gym – Gon himself is on hiatus from training until after the pup’s born. His hand automatically goes to the swell of his belly, still gentle although now definitely visible. “Sotto!”

His son looks up, letting down the bench-press weight of 50 kilos. “Come here!” 

Sotto senses his excitement and hops up, scrambling over. Gon takes his hand and presses it to his stomach. Waits a moment – maybe there won’t be a repeat, maybe that was just the first, maybe…

 _Kick_. Gon smiles down at Sotto. “Did you feel it?”

His son looks up at him with foil-gold eyes, his mouth hanging open. 

“That’s your little brother or sister,” says Gon. “They want to meet you.”

“Really?”

He nods. “Because they know you’ll be a great big brother.”

Sotto nods. “Un! I will!”

  
***

Leorio and Kurapika come out for a visit around month five. They’re technically on Zodiac business but they finagle a two-day stop over. Gon knows they’re worried about him, although they don’t show it, worried that this pregnancy will go the way the other did.

“So far it’s fine,” Gon says. They’re sitting together in the apartment while Hisoka and Sotto train in the arena; he’s drinking tea while the other two have a glass of wine. 

“My blood pressure’s a little high, but not enough to worry about.” He has a monitor tucked away in the new room that Hisoka arranged to be added on; he checks it every day. “And there have been some new medications developed that are supposed to be targeted towards omegas.”

Leorio nods. “That’s right. Diavalon and Biprosavalon. They’ve had really good results in trials. They’re pretty hard on your kidneys, though – you don’t want to be on them if you don’t have to be.”

Kurapika sighs. “Just can’t avoid talking shop, can you?” he’s smiling but Gon can hear the warning tone in his voice. Apparently Leorio does too because he shrugs.

“Sorry. I looked into the research when I heard you were expecting. Just, you know, in case.”

“I’m being careful.”

Leorio looks at him over the top of his glasses. “And is Hisoka?”

Gon’s never told any of his friends about the specifics of his last pregnancy, about the fact that Hisoka insisted he not get the treatment he should have had. He’s pretty sure they’ve guessed all the same. “He understands. And he likes the doctor you recommended.”

“Good.”

Gon smiles. “And how’s your practice,” he asks, changing the topic. The conversation flows on, away from his health. By the time Hisoka and Sotto come back the three of them are cooking dinner, Leorio and Kurapika arguing and the bottle of wine empty.

  
***

Gon sees them off to the air field, Leorio hurrying on ahead, eager to be punctual as always. Kurapika hangs back with Gon; Gon looks at him, wondering why.

“Gon…” Kurapika turns to him, puts his hand on his shoulder. “You know that Hisoka was once in the Phantom Troupe. I know he himself considers that it was nothing but a cover to fight Chrollo. But I haven’t forgotten. If you have any trouble with him… if he interferes with your health in any way, tell me. I can handle it.” 

Suddenly Gon feels the weight of his chains on his hand, the chains that destroyed the Phantom Troupe’s strongest member and stole its leader’s powers. 

Gon stares back steadily. “When I was young, I didn’t always look after myself. Not because I didn’t know how, but because I didn’t think I was important. Now I have Sotto, and this pup. I won’t let anyone endanger me again. Hisoka understands that. We’ve come a long way, Kurapika.”

The Kurta sighs, but nods. “Very well. But if you need anything…”

“I’ll call,” smiles Gon. “Thanks, Kurapika.”

“ _Oi!_ ” shouts Leorio from the boarding gate. “Get it in gear already!”

Kurapika rolls his eyes but turns and heads for the gate. 

Gon waves until they’ve disappeared aboard the airship. Then he turns and goes home.

  
***

A month later he gets a call from Killua. “Gon?”

“Killua! What’s up?”

“How are you? How’s the baby, and Sotto?” As always, he doesn’t ask about Hisoka. 

“We’re all fine. Everything’s fine, thanks for checking in.”

“Well actually, it’s not just a check-in. You see… Alluka’s getting married.”

Gon’s eyebrows shoot up. “What?!” Across the room he sees Hisoka look up. Seeing nothing of concern, he goes back to the card house he’s building. “Where? When?”

Alluka’s been going steady with a nice, if bland, guy from Azia for a few years now. They live together in Forense, halfway across the continent. 

“January 1st – starting a new life and all that. They’re getting married in Forense, outside – it’s going to be fucking freezing. She wanted a white wedding – literally.”

“In the snow? Isn’t that going to be kind of wet?”

“There’ll be pavilions and things with heaters. And big wreaths of holly and evergreen – all stuff that grows in adversity. That’s what she wanted.” He sounds somewhere between proud and longsuffering.

“Is your family coming?”

“Fuck no. But you will, right? Formal invites are going out in a couple of weeks, but she asked for you to be there. All of you, of course,” he adds, slightly stiltedly. 

“I’d love to, Killua. But that’s three weeks before my due date. I can’t make any firm guarantees.”

“She’ll understand if something comes up, of course. But for now at least, will you?”

“Just a second,” he says, and lowers the phone. “Hisoka! Alluka’s getting married at the beginning of January. She wants us to come, okay?”

Hisoka looks across at him. “If you are well enough to travel. And if the whelp isn’t planning to arrive in the near future,” he says.

“Yeah,” agrees Gon, then picks up the phone again. “Killua? We’ll do our best to be there.”

  
***

Gon doesn’t remember being this uncomfortable, this huge, the last time around. He must have been, of course, and he’s not even full-size yet, but waddling around after Sotto and Hisoka he feels awkward and uneasy. He can no longer see his feet, can’t bend down properly, and often can’t go without the bathroom for more than two hours.

His check-ups are still going well, his blood-pressure elevated but not dangerously so. He’s making sure to rest a lot and eat healthily, a meal plan stuck on the fridge with a magnet shaped like a penguin that Sotto made. 

At the end of the day he hauls himself into bed and lies on his side – the only way he can lie anymore, both back and front impossible. Tired as he is he sleeps in fits and starts, often too uncomfortable to sleep for several hours in a row and usually having to get up to pee anyway. Hisoka, usually a light sleeper, learns not to wake at his frequent exits. 

Today, after a long day of shopping for baby goods – Sotto’s helping to decorate the nursery but there’s still a long way to go – as well as cooking and helping Sotto with his book report, he’s exhausted. He peels off his clothes and takes a quick shower, then slowly lumbers out and lowers himself onto the mattress. Hisoka’s already in bed, stretched out naked beneath the covers reading a magazine. He looks up as Gon stretches his neck, sighing. 

“You look tired,” he says dispassionately, setting the magazine down.

“I am,” replies Gon, rubbing at the knob of his spine. “The baby’s heavy, and my feet are swollen, and my back hurts, and I am ready for this to be done.”

“Mm, another two months yet.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

Hisoka pushes aside the covers and crosses to kneel on the bed behind him. He lays his long, elegant hands on Gon’s shoulders and starts to rub. “But think of the reward,” he says.

Gon does, often. Thinks of the tiny baby tucked in his arms, of his heart swelling with love, of the intense sensation of protectiveness and joy and fulfilment that Sotto had brought him even when he was at his sickest. Thinks of him and Hisoka layering their shared scents on the baby’s soft skin, of tiny perfect fingers grasping at his. He closes his eyes as Hisoka digs his fingers in deeper, rubbing into the tight muscles of his back. 

“Are you excited? For the baby?” he asks.

“I am excited to have you backwards and forwards again, and whichever way I please,” replies Hisoka, who is just as horny as ever and now has to be content with the occasional side fuck or hand job. “But… there is something pleasing in one’s progeny. I have always had a keen interest in potential,” he says. “Our pups are brimming with it.” He works his fingers lower, straightening Gon’s spine, digging in beneath his shoulder blades. 

“It will be Sotto’s birthday soon,” says Gon. “We’ll have to get him something special. He’ll have more responsibility soon, and less of our time.”

“The only thing he wants is to learn nen.”

“Yes, but…”

“He will have a sibling to protect soon. And it will be hard for us to have an eye on both of them at all times.”

“You just want to see what he’ll choose as his ability.”

“I confess to my curiosity. But it is also practical. He will be nine, Gon; old enough.”

Gon sighs. “I know. I know.” Hisoka’s hands fall to his hips. He reaches back and catches them, brings them forward to rest over his rounded belly. Inside the infant rolls, and he winces slightly. Hisoka pulls him closer, hands stretched over his womb. 

“You can’t hold them close forever,” he says. “In a couple of years, Sotto will be old enough to leave on his own if he chooses. Is that why you wanted this little one?”

“I wanted it because I love him, and I love you,” replies Gon, tilting his head up to tuck his nose in against Hisoka’s throat. “For his birthday, you can start teaching him nen,” he says softly. 

“Mm,” hums Hisoka, the feeling of it reverberating against Gon’s face. 

Slowly Hisoka lies them down, still curled around him. Gon falls asleep listening to the beating of his mate’s heart.

  
***

For Sotto’s birthday Gon bakes a cake using one of Aunt Mito’s recipes, and buys a pack of playing cards. He wraps them with a bow and puts them on the table for when Hisoka brings Sotto home from school.

The birthday boy bangs into the apartment, all smiles, and gives his Dad a hug. “How’s the baby?” he asks, like he does every day.

“Just fine,” answers Gon. Hisoka comes in after him, steps long and lazy, and shuts the door behind himself. 

Sotto catches sight of the wrapped cards on the table and crosses over to them, transfixed. Gon smiles. He’ll have a party with his friends later, of course, with presents from them as well as his uncles and grandmother, but his birthday itself has always been for just the family. 

“There’s cake for later, but you can open that now if you want,” says Gon. 

Sotto grabs the present and rips open the wrapping, shredded paper falling to the floor. He stares down at the pack of cards in confusion, then looks up. Gon smiles. 

“You’ve always wanted to learn your father’s trick with them. Now you can.”

Sotto’s eyes go wide as saucers, dart from Gon to Hisoka and then back again. “You mean –”

“Starting today, pup, you begin learning nen,” drawls Hisoka. 

Sotto breaks out in the widest smile Gon’s every seen from him. He rushes forward and throws his arms around Gon, then around Hisoka. “Thank you! Thank you!”

Gon rests his hand in his tufty hair softly. “Just remember, Sotto. Your nen is only as strong as you are. Always respect yourself. Always.”

His pup nods. “I will!”

  
***

Winter solstice comes and goes, with it the festival and presents and rum cake and mulled wine for Hisoka and spiced apple cider for Gon and Sotto.

On the 30th, they pick up the rental car.

Gon had originally planned to fly out for the wedding, but Hisoka objects to him being in such close quarters with strangers at this late stage in his pregnancy and besides it turns out the airline won’t fly persons over 7 months pregnant. By car it’s a six hour trip each way through flat, boring farmland. 

He gets his doctor’s sign-off for the trip as well as a referral to a clinic in Forense just in case it’s needed. He’ll only be gone four days, and the pup’s head still hasn’t dropped; birth isn’t imminent. 

Hisoka drives while Gon reads in the passenger seat and Sotto plays video games in the back. They bring food and drinks and stop partway at a gas station for a meal. The snow’s blanketed the world, everything outside plain and white. 

In Forense Gon gives directions until they come to the hotel where they’re staying; the wedding is going to be on its sweeping grounds. They park and Hisoka flags down a bellboy to take their luggage up. Gon levers himself out of the passenger seat and waddles along after them, eager for the bathroom and not to be sitting any longer. 

There’s a reception inside that night for close friends and he meets Killua there, whose first words are: “Whoa, you’re the size of a house!”

Gon laughs. “Thanks, Killua.”

“Seriously, maybe you shouldn’t have come. I didn’t realise you’d be this big.”

“Well I won’t be wearing a suit,” replies Gon, still smiling.

“Nah – we’ll all be in outdoors clothes. Alluka didn’t want anything too fancy or black collar. Really though, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Killua. Really. My doctor cleared the trip and I’ve got a clinic here I can call if anything happens. But it shouldn’t. So don’t worry. You need to focus on Alluka.”

“Right, right.”

“You’re giving her away, of course?”

Killua reddens. “Yeah. Well, I mean…”

“You’ve always been the one looking out for her, Killua. Loving her. You’re perfect to give her away.”

“Just hope I don’t fuck it up and start crying.”

Gon catches his arm lightly. “That’d be the farthest thing from fucking up,” he says quietly. “Now come see Sotto, he’s been asking about you.”

  
***

The wedding itself is much more beautiful than Gon was expecting. Alluka is married not in white but in a long woollen coat-dress of bright colours criss-crossing in bright weaves. Her boots are high and fawn-coloured leather, her hair long and pulled back by a green ribbon. She looks beautiful, looks like some winter goddess descended from the snows.

Her fiancé – now husband – is a young man named Bram, and is obviously head-over-heels for her. Gon knows he’d have to be, or Killua would have knifed him by now. During the ceremony Killua does cry, and so does Alluka, and so does Gon a little. He and Hisoka are mated but not married, the need for a ceremony seeming completely unnecessary and also not very much them. He doesn’t regret it, but he does wonder a little what Hisoka would look like in a grey morning coat with soft gloves and a rose boutonniere. Somehow he can’t help but also imagine a thin pair of stilettos. 

The image keeps him smiling through the rest of the ceremony and the reception that follows.

  
***

Many of the guests are staying on for a while for a vacation – the hotel is famous for its onsen and spa – but Gon knows he shouldn’t be away too long and Hisoka is anxious. Gon feels okay, except for his stomach being a bit upset, which is probably just due to too much rich food.

They stay a second day after the ceremony for an opportunity to mingle, but as the day goes on his stomach doesn’t feel any better, his guts clenching and unclenching. He doesn’t mention it to Hisoka, but he’s clad they’re going home the next day. 

The day of their drive home dawns bright and sunny and cold, snow crystals being blown up into the air off the drifts covering the fields. Gon’s stomach feels better but the baby is heavy inside him, pressing down low against the bottom of his spine, and he feels uncomfortable as they load everything back into the car. 

Almost as soon as they get going, he feels the cramps start. They’re more intense than his stomach pains the night before, but nothing like the pains of labour he’s read about. He’s sweating in the over-heated car, the baby like a furnace inside him, and can’t stop shifting.

Hisoka glances at him about half an hour in, eyes considering. “Alright?” he asks quietly. 

Gon just nods, staring out at the snow fields. Babies take hours to arrive, can take days. He wants to be home for this delivery, not in Forense. He says nothing.

  
***

As they keep driving, though, the pains grow worse. They’re coming about every five minutes, deep twisting pains inside him that make him wince and tense. After two hours they’re coming every four minutes, after three hours every three. And they’re getting more intense.

“Hisoka,” he hisses, conscious of Sotto in the back with his earphones on. “You’ve gotta hurry up.”

Hisoka glances at him.

“The baby’s coming,” he adds in an undertone, his hands clenched over his stomach.

“Now is not a convenient time,” says Hisoka blandly, but his eyes are sharp. 

“I know that! I thought it would be slower – a lot slower! But, ugh,” he breaks off, sweating, as a contraction hits him. “They contractions are coming too fast,” he grits out through his teeth.

Hisoka glances down at the GPS. Gon has already done the calculations; they’re right in the middle of the two cities, out in empty snowy farmland. “We won’t save any time by turning back,” he says, foot pressing down on the gas. “But visibility is poor; there’s a limit to our speed.” He looks at the road, partially obscured by clouds of dry snow being blown over it. “You have to wait it out.”

“I’m doing my best,” hisses Gon. He’s never been moved by pain before, but this isn’t just pain, it’s a deep sense of urgency. A need to be moving, to be pushing, to be doing _something_. Sitting in the seat while the pains grow deeper and faster is driving him up the wall. “Just… hurry up!”

  
***

After another hour, he can’t take it anymore. The pains are coming fast, his body telling him he needs to be upright, needs to be pushing, needs to be birthing this baby _right now_. Hisoka is driving in white-knuckled silence, glances split between him and the road. Only Sotto is blissfully ignorant of the tension in the car as he pounds away at his videogame.

“Pull over,” pants Gon, as a contraction tears through him; it feels like it’s ripping him apart, like this baby is going to force its way out here in the car. 

“Here is not,” begins Hisoka. 

“ _Pull. Over_ ,” snaps Gon, head thrown back, eyes tightly closed. 

A few seconds later the alpha does. But not onto the shoulder; he’s still driving. Gon opens his eyes and sees that they’re heading for a dilapidated farm house, its slanted roof covered in snow, its windows dark. As soon as Hisoka stops Gon slams the door open and stumbles out into the snow, falling on his knees, panting. He feels a sudden spurt of wetness in his elastic-waisted pants; his water breaking. He groans and breaths through another contraction. 

A moment later Hisoka’s there lifting him out of the snow. Sotto stumbles out, wide-eyed and confused. “Get Gon’s bag out of the trunk,” orders Hisoka, then he’s carrying Gon to the house. He kicks in the front door without even trying the lock and stumbles through into a wooden-floored living room. There’s no furniture, the walls covered in ripped wallpaper, the windows rattling in the wind. Long-abandoned and empty. It’s cold but Gon doesn’t notice; he feels fiery, feels only the need to squat and push. Hisoka puts him down and he rests on his hands and knees, breathing hard. 

“Daddy?” Sotto’s at the door with Gon’s bag held in both hands, looking scared and lost. 

“Bring it here, then see if the water still works,” commands Hisoka. 

“What’s happening?”

“The baby’s coming, Sotto,” grits out Gon. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Just do what Hisoka says.”

Sotto comes over and puts the bag down, then goes to find the kitchen. As soon as he’s gone Gon drops his head and bites his tongue against a cry, a contraction cutting to the core of him. 

Hisoka takes off his boots and then his dripping pants; he pulls out an old terrycloth bathrobe Gon brought for comfort and wraps it over him. 

“How soon?” asks Hisoka, kneeling beside him.

“ _Soon_ ,” pants Gon. He’s never felt this kind of urgency, this raw unfiltered need to act. It reminds him of his heats, of the madness of his sex drive, his body ruled by hormones in the same way. He’s not scared, or worried, or apprehensive; all he feels is the need to give birth to this baby. Inside him something shifts and he groans, feels tightness and then a bright burst of pain. “ _Hisoka_ ,” he gasps, rising instinctively and pushing, pushing past the pain, past the agony, past the white-hot need. The contractions are almost ceaseless now, like endless waves pounding into him. 

He pushes, then feels something sliding out of him, the pain excruciating. 

“Again,” snaps Hisoka, and he bears down. And then it’s gone, the weight, the pressure; he collapses onto his side, panting, and stares up at Hisoka. Hisoka who is wiping liquid out of a little red bloody infant’s mouth. He slaps it on the back, and an instant later high-pitched cries echo through the house. 

Gon lays his head back, too tired even to smile, but so full of thankfulness, of joy. Hisoka uses Bungee Gum to tie off the cord, then cuts it through. He digs out a shirt from Gon’s back and cleans the newborn with it as Sotto returns carrying a pot filled with water. Despite the sight of his new sibling he carries it all the way over, setting it down beside Gon. “Is that –”

“Your new sister,” replies Hisoka, dipping the shirt in the water and cleaning the baby. 

A girl. A little girl. Hisoka finishes cleaning her and wraps her in another shirt, then hands her down to him. Gon nuzzles his cheek against hers, her skin soft as lambs fleece. Her skin is pale and freckled, her hair a natural red. He strokes her until she opens her eyes: the same chestnut brown as his own. 

Gon sighs, and finally smiles.

  
***

It’s more than an hour before they’re ready to get back in the car, the afterbirth still needing to be delivered, and then Gon to be cleaned up as best they can. His ass feels torn up and he’s still passing bloody discharge; the best they can do is wrap him in the bathrobe with a shirt to soak up the remaining flow. He cradles his new daughter in his arms as Hisoka carries him out through the swirling snow and lays him down carefully in the back seat, Sotto now up front.

Hisoka keeps talking to him the whole way back, which at the time Gon thinks dazedly is strange and only several days later does he realise the magician was afraid of him passing out and dropping the baby. 

Back in town they go straight to the hospital where both Gon and the pup are checked out. The pup is healthy and strong, her tests all good. Gon’s a bit torn inside – nothing abnormal for a natural birth – and the hospital gives him some salts to bathe with as well as thick pads to wear while the rest of his womb cleans itself out. He stays overnight just to be sure, his own doctor stopping by to check on him. 

He’s discharged the next day wearing clothes Hisoka hurriedly fetches for him, taken down to the waiting car in a wheelchair while Sotto pushes him and peers over his shoulder at his sister. 

“She’s very small,” he says.

“She’ll grow,” replies Hisoka. “She has a lot of Gon in her.”

Gon looks up at him. “You’re naming her, Hisoka,” he says, without room for argument. “You brought her into this world.”

Hisoka doesn’t answer, merely helps Gon into the car and crosses to the other side to get in himself. 

They drive back with Sotto enthusing about all the things he’s going to teach her, about how he’ll have perfected nen by the time she’s old enough to start learning and will help her learn it. 

They reach the Arena some ten minutes later and take the elevator up to their apartment. It feels warm and welcoming to be home; outside snow is starting to fall past the tall windows. Gon slowly walks in and carries the baby to her new room, Sotto and Hisoka following. Of course she’ll be in with them for the first while, but he wants her to know her nursery, to feel safe there. Some of Sotto's old toys are on the dresser, along with the bear Hisoka won for him at the summer carnival. 

He lays her down in the already-prepared crib that had once belonged to Sotto, and rests his hands on the railing. She’s sleeping peacefully, swaddled in a white blanket edged with pink. Gon senses Hisoka approach, then the magician is beside him looking down. 

“Fey,” he says. 

Gon glances at him.

“Her name. What I love most about you.”

“She’ll grow up to be strong. Like her father.”

Hisoka’s arm drapes over his shoulders, his scent possessive, proud. “Mm. But more like her dad.”

END

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic in the series where both Gon and Hisoka explicitly use the language of love; I really like the idea that it's taken them a long time to settle into their relationship beyond the closeness of the bond and finding love. 
> 
> Also I definitely imagine Fey as way more like Hisoka than Gon, and way more pragmatic and sedate than her brother. Hisoka totally dotes on her. :D


End file.
